A LOT of catching up to do.....

So it has been FOREVER since my last post on here. Its not that we've had incredibly boring lives lately it is just that I haven't had the patience to sit down and catch up on everything. I think the date on my last post was November 8th,, so I will try to go through our latest pictures and update everyone on our lives. This may seem really random with no thought behind it - but there is too much to cover for there to be any organization.

Kelly had his 34th birthday on November 12th. He and I had gone out to eat a few days before at this awesome local seafood restaurant called Proa to celebrate. Kel also had the opportunity to celebrate in Texas with family because he had some training to do. I don't have any recent pictures of Kel to put up here - I say recent because Kelly has lost 25 pounds!!!!!! He and a friend started a weight loss challenge together complete with a contract and everything. Kelly has been very motivated and has done a great job. I always think he looks good but he looks really good now! :) Because I don't have a picture of Kelly that shows off his new slender physique I will pay homage to him by listing my favorite things about him.

1. He doesn't take life or himself too seriously - Kel and I can act completely ridiculous together and laugh hysterically together and I love that about him. He isn't afraid to act stupid or goofy and he loves to try and embarrass me. Sometimes it works - but even then I'm grateful that he is like that.

2. He loves food especially my food! HAHA! I would be so depressed to be married to a boring and unadventurous eater. Kel will try anything and he usually loves it all. He also always goes on and on about the things I make. Maybe he is easily impressed, but I'll take the positive feedback anytime!

3. There is a saying that says "You can tell who a man really is by the way he treats his mother." Well I think they wrote that saying because of Kelly. He loves his Mom!!!! Not only does he love her but he is always willing to do anything for her. Now that we live far away he doesn't get to do things for her very often, but we when we lived in Texas (and when we visit), we pretty much have to be in an impossible situation for him to not drop everything to help her out. When we were dating and his Dad was in Iraq he would always tell me that he felt it was his responsibility to look after her and do things for her so that she wouldn't ever need anything. And now Kelly puts all that same energy and love into my Mom as well. He is always willing to help out and do anything that she needs, even before she asks for it. It is the running joke in our family that Kelly is my Mom's favorite kid. My mom says it isn't a joke because he really is her favorite.

4. He always goes out of his way to make sure everyone around him is comfortable and happy - if we are ever in a social setting he makes sure he talks to everyone and makes sure that those who don't really have anyone to talk to are included.

5. He is a PEACEMAKER - believe it or not it took me a while to appreciate this quality in him. Being a true peacemaker is a wonderful quality to have, but I often noticed that in his efforts to keep the peace in relationships in his life (family, work, friends) his feelings often got over looked. It takes a patient person and very loving person to be willing to always put aside their own feelings for the feelings of those around him.

6. He is very handy - he can pretty much do anything! He loves to fix things and he can usually learn to fix anything even if he hasn't seen it before. He says that I'm easily impressed, but he really is very handy to have around. My mom told me I had to marry him after he fixed my Uncle Craig's boat once. But he really has a nack for understanding how things work.

7. He is always willing to tell me when I'm right and he's wrong - ok ladies who wouldn't want that?!?! He doesn't tell me I'm right just to please me - believe me I've been wrong many times and he doesn't pretend I'm right to get me to shut up. But I have to say, being with someone who is not afraid to admit when they are wrong - and better yet admit when I'm right - is very refreshing! I need to work on that skill myself ;)

8. He loves adventure - I don't really want him to love some of the adventurous things that he loves; motorcycles, spear fishing at night, driving race cars. But I am really grateful that he has a love for life and a love to discover new things. He and I share a lot of the same passions and we really want to pass those things on to our children. He isn't afraid to do anything, and he is always encouraging me when I do get scared. I've tried things that I thought I would never try because of him. He won't settle on having a boring life, he wants to see the world our heavenly Father has created and he wants to show those things to our kids. A lot of people dread the thought of their kids leaving home. I know I will miss our kids greatly when we our empty nesters, but I also can't wait to have even more adventures when it is just the two of us.

9. He is an AWESOME father - Liam and Arie absolutely LOVE being with Kelly. He has so much fun with them and they have so much with him. He somehow got them to love brushing their teeth, they think it is party time at night when it is time to brush their teeth. He not only plays with them and makes sure they are well provided for; but he isn't afraid to show them affection and he really wants to teach them how to be good children and responsible adults.

10. He loves his Heavenly Father and his Savior Jesus Christ - because he loves them so much he chooses to honor his Priesthood and the temple covenants he has made. Kelly isn't a perfect person or anything, but he knows what is right and wrong, he knows what his Father in heaven expects out of him, he knows how to live his life to be an example for his children to follow, he knows the real meaning of integrity.

Kelly would probably be uncomfortable knowing I put all of this on our public blog for everyone to read. But he really is all of those things. It is those things and thousands of others that make me love and respect him more and more everyday.

Ok - Thanksgiving!!! We had the opportunity to meet my Mom in Hawaii for the week of Thanksgiving. Kelly's schedule ended up getting messed up at the last minute, so he didn't get to spend as much time with as he would've liked but the trip was still very fun. We didn't tell the kids that we were going to Hawaii to see Momo, because my Mom really wanted to surprise them. When I got off the plane in Oahu I kept telling the kids to look around to see if they saw anything special. When Liam saw Momo he took off running and screaming towards her. In true Arie fashion, Arie followed behind doing the same thing, only she had no idea why she was screaming. Liam jumped up to hug Momo and Arie hung back a little startled by the commotion. The trip was fun and we did a lot of fun things together. Best part of it was I didn't have to make anything on Thanksgiving and we didn't have to do any cleaning. Worst part was Kelly wasn't there and we weren't around a lot of family. Here are some pics of the trip...

Hawaii was a lot of fun. The weather was AMAZING!!!! The beaches were beautiful (including the surfers on those beaches - right Mom!). We sent Momo off to Kona so she could work and we took off back to Guam. Normally when we go to Hawaii we fly on the direct flight between Guam and Hawaii on a 767, but this time we decided we would fly with Dad! When the 737 (Kel's plane) goes to Hawaii it takes a unique route that has been labeled the Island Hopper. You basically hit several islands in between Guam and Hawaii picking up passengers and cargo along the way. It is a very long day, 6 stops in all, but I really wanted to experience that with Kelly as one of the pilots. Flying as a non-rev on the Hopper can be tricky because they will throw you off fast if they need to put more cargo on board. Being thrown off and stuck on these islands isn't exactly what you want to happen, but I decided I'd chance it anyway. Kelly's family friend, Dennis James, called the Island Hopper the "last bastion of really great flying in the world". The pilots out here consider it the only time that they really get to do their jobs. There are short run ways that leave you no room for error, and most of the airports are so tiny they look like little shacks. It is sort of the Wild West of flying. And most of these islands are so small and so remote it is a really cool chance to see them. Our first stop was Majuro just a tiny atoll about half way between Oahu and Guam. I wanted to get off the plane and take lots of pictures but the weather wasn't so great and....

... these two were out cold!
Our next stop was Kwajalien. Kwaj is actually an Army base and they wouldn't let us off of the plane because the whole island is a restricted area. But the kids still had a lot of fun...


They got to push all kinds of buttons and pretend to fly. Kelly definitely has one of those "Cool Dad" jobs that will be impressive for a long time.
Next stop was Kosrae. Kosrae is very tiny and very remote. Supposedly there is great diving there and people go there to connect back with nature. I loved going into the tiny airport here because you could tell that flying was still a big deal to the locals. The locals that got on the plane had on their best dresses and had tons of fragrant flowers in their hair. It made the plane smell great! Kosrae is also known for a certain citrus fruit that can only be found there. You can by a bag of 20 for about $2 from some of the locals at the terminal. They are small, green, and taste sort of like a tangerine only better. The thing is you have to finish all of them before you get to your next stop - agriculture laws or something. Another cool thing about doing the island hopper was that on those tiny islands airport security is really no big deal. The kids could run all over the runway while we had our layovers and they could really get up close to Daddy's "office".


Next was Pohnpei, also very small, remote and beautiful. Also a very short runway!!! Not that long ago a Japanese plane went off the end of it into the ocean! But those continental pilots are too well trained for a mistake like that... especially a certain FO Monson! His landings are perfection! After Pohnpei we were on to Chuuk. Chuuk was pretty. I really want to go back there too for the diving. After Chuuk we were finally home. Considering how extremely long the day was the kids did very well and had a lot of fun. It was really fun being on the plane with Kel while he was flying too.

After Thanksgiving it was time to get ready Christmas and to plan Arie's birthday party! Arie turned 2 on the 9th on December. We had to do a party for her because last year we hardly even celebrated her birthday - her FIRST birthday - we are horrible parents! The morning of her birthday we did b-day pancakes with a candle and we sang to her. Then for her party we had some kids over and we decorated sugar cookies. Arie got lots of great presents too.

It is hard for me to believe that Arie is already 2! She has brought so much joy to our family and I'm so grateful to have her as a daughter. Although I'm sad that she is growing so fast it is also so much fun, because the older she gets the more fun she has with her brother. Liam and Arie are quite the two-some! They bicker a lot and fight over toys, but they also have so much fun together. Arie worships her brother and he really does love her so much too. Listening to them play or watching them from around the corner are my two favorite activities. They crack me up! I'm so grateful for my brother and sister, and they truly are the two people I'd choose to be around anytime. I pray that Liam and Arie will have that some bond someday.

As most of you know Kelly and I are expecting baby number 3! We are really excited and we feel really blessed to be able to have another sweet baby in our home. We have decided this time around that we want to be surprised and not find out the sex of the baby. I thought my personality would NEVER let me do that, but I have to say it is so much fun! Kel thinks it is a girl, and if I had to guess I'd say a girl too. But what is weird is when I refer to the baby I always say "he" and I had a dream that I had the baby and it was a boy. Who knows!?! All I know, is I love the whole surprise thing. How many great surprises do you get in life anyway? I know, I know, it is a surprise if you find out at 20 weeks or at 40 weeks. But I can't wait for the doctor to say "It's a...."! It will be awesome.

Well this may be the longest post in the history of blogger. I actually have a lot of videos that I need to post as well, but those take forever!!!! and I don't have the patience tonight! So i hope everyone is doing great and I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and holiday season. OH YEAH!!!!!!! I'll post about Christmas later! HAHA!